


Whiskey & Orange Juice

by wotcherpotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 14:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11557332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wotcherpotter/pseuds/wotcherpotter
Summary: Lily's mum had always said, ‘the way you started the New Year was a reflection of how your year would pan out’ and she did not want to be moping for a full 365 days.





	Whiskey & Orange Juice

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of thank you's to dish out:  
> * Thank you to Kahlia firstbreaths & Kris missgoalie75, the moderators of the Christmas in July JilyFest, and for all the work you put into organising everything.   
> * Thank you to Ann Rei pdfcct for being my lovely beta; and  
> * Thank you to YOU for reading this

 

It was 4pm on New Year’s Eve and Lily was in her bed with a tub of Ben and Jerry’s Triple Chocolate ice cream watching a  _ Criminal Minds _ marathon. It was pathetic, she knew, but she was comfortable and warm in her her blanket cocoon. She also knew that eating ice cream defeated the purpose but logic wasn’t high up on her list of reasoning that afternoon. She was going through a breakup. Well; a friend breakup. Maybe it was more. The waters had definitely been muddy when it all happened, and even if they were just friends, it was still a breakup. So she was allowed to eat ice cream in bed and not make any sense. 

The (ex) friend in question was Severus Snape. He was her oldest friend, and because of that Lily had made excuses for the way he treated her for a long time. Her other friends had tried to make her see (she had to give Marlene credit for being persistent) but she was blinded by… Well not love, but something. 

It was easy to ignore it when they were back home in Cokeworth, but now that they were in London for university the tension between them had risen (and not in a good way). The city was home to a lot of beautiful people and places, but somehow Severus had managed to find the people who lurked in it’s darkest corners; fascists and racists and bigots alike. There were people like that back in Cokeworth, of course, but at their university they masqueraded around under the banner of “Men’s Rights Activists” and it was considered okay.

Lily was hurt, and angry, but the main thing she felt was stupid and embarrassed. She felt stupid for feeling the hurt and the anger over the whole situation. She felt stupid for the amount of chances she’d given him. And she felt stupid for the amount of times Marlene had tried to tell her she was being stupid. 

Which is why, instead of being festive and excited for the prospect of a New Year, Lily was hiding away in her room. The tub of ice cream had put her in a food coma, which was pleasantly numbing. Another couple of episodes of  _ Criminal Minds _ played, and she didn’t even realise it was 7pm until she heard the front door of her apartment bang open. 

“Lils! Get your arse up, no more moping!” Marlene called to her down the hallway. 

“I’m happy moping!” Lily called back. 

There was a thud from Marlene’s shoes hitting the floor near the front door, and then the plod of her footsteps down the hallway to Lily’s room. 

“That was an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one,” Marlene said. 

Lily rolled her eyes at Marlene’s jibe and lifted the last heaped spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. 

“Come on Lils, really. A guy from one of my classes at uni is having a massive New Year’s Eve party, I  _ promise _ you’ll have a good time,” Marlene pleaded. 

Lily looked at her friend dubiously. But Marlene did have a point. She couldn’t very well go into the New Year sad and alone. Her mum had always said, ‘the way you started the New Year was a reflection of how your year would pan out’ and she did  _ not _ want to be moping for a full 365 days. 

“Fine,” Lily huffed, but there was a smile playing on her lips. 

Marlene cheered, and wrapped her arms around Lily in a warm embrace. 

“I know he hurt you Lils, but I need you to know he never deserved your friendship. You deserve the world.”

Lily hugged her friend a little tighter at her words, then pulled away.

“What time does this shindig start?” 

“Well, it’s already kind of started but it’s like, a get there whenever kind of thing, you know?” Marlene said. 

“That gives me not long enough to go from grub-in-food-stained-sweats to mildly-hot-girl,” Lily complained. 

“Don’t worry, when I’m finished with you, you’ll be girl-everyone-wants-to-be-their-countdown-kiss,” Marlene assured her. 

Lily was whisked into the bathroom, and Marlene set to work. Lily had been the guinea pig for many a Marlene makeover. In the beginning there were a few that had been complete disasters (Lily had not let Marlene touch her eyebrows since they were 15); but now Marlene was a pro, and Lily was content to relax in the makeshift beauty parlour Marlene had set up in their shared bathroom. 

****

When Lily finally arrived with Marlene to the party, she realised she was definitely not drunk enough. A wordless conversation passed between Lily and Marlene, which ended with Marlene tugging on Lily’s hand through the packed house and into the kitchen.

“You’ve been here before then,” Lily said. It wasn’t a question. 

Marlene pulled a bottle of whiskey from behind some cereal in one of the cupboards, and a couple of glasses. 

“Call it a lucky guess,” Marlene said slyly. 

Lily snorted and Marlene handed her a shot. They downed them together with equally sour faces. 

“Another,” Lily said.

The second went down just as bad as the first, but Lily felt sufficiently loosened up and a little giddy. Marlene passed her another shot. 

“Three’s the charm,” Marlene said. 

“Stop pressuring me,” Lily joked before she downed the third shot. 

Marlene tossed the glasses in the sink and hid the bottle back behind the cereal. There was music playing from speakers from somewhere in the house, though it was muffled from the walls of the kitchen. As Lily leant on the kitchen counter she could feel the music throughout her body; or maybe that was just the whiskey starting to affect her. It started in her legs, tingling and rising up through her body until it bubbled up in her chest and burst out in laughter. Marlene grinned and grabbed her hand as she lead her out of a different door than the one they came through, and into a room crowded with people. 

Through the hordes of partygoers Marlene managed to secure them both a seat on a lounge with six other people. Lily was squished between Marlene on her left, and a guy who looked vaguely familiar on her right. One of his elbows accidentally hit her shoulder as they both tried to get comfortable, and the possible stranger turned to face her.

“Sorry!” the guy yelled over the music. Then, as he did a double take, “Marls you came!”

Lily looked at Marlene with raised eyebrows. Marlene blushed faintly, and Lily was only able to see it because she was two inches away from her face. 

“Hey, Black,” Marlene said casually. “Lily this is Sirius, he’s in my health lecture.”

“Hi,” Lily said, pulling her arm out from where she had scrunched it up to shake his hand awkwardly. 

Sirius looked at her with a mischievous grin, which she had a feeling was in part how he naturally looked, but also made her feel like there was something on her face. She would have felt self conscious about it but the whiskey didn’t let her. Marlene and Sirius chatted over her whilst she people watched around the room. This room was nowhere near as crowded as the front room. She could see gaps between groups of people, and despite sharing the lounge with seven others she felt there was more room to breathe. 

Through her people watching, she spied a guy across the room making his way to different groups of people. He seemed to make everyone laugh wherever he went, like a whirlwind of bad jokes. His dark hair further proved her theory of the whirlwind with how unkempt it was. Though clearly it was from the way he messed it up every couple of minutes. In her haze she found the habit strangely endearing. 

“Who’re you looking at?” Marlene interrupted her suddenly. 

Lily hadn’t realised the conversation happening across her had come to a close. She turned to Marlene abruptly, trying to avoid the Spanish Inquisition she knew would start if Marlene figured out where he gaze had wandered. 

“Just people watching,” Lily tried to deflect, but unfortunately she was the worst liar on the planet.

That, coupled with the fact that Marlene had known her for almost ten years didn’t help her case, and the inevitable inquisition began with a gleeful grin from Marlene. Lily groaned. But Marlene never got a chance to start, because he walked towards them. Or rather, he walked towards Sirius sitting next to her.

“Prongs!” Sirius called from beside her. 

Lily looked to Marlene again, wondering if her friend had an explanation. Marlene gave her nothing except the same grin from before. Lily guessed the whiskey was starting to hit her as well. The stranger called ‘Prongs’ eventually made his way across the room to speak to Sirius beside her. 

“Prongs, have you met Marlene and Lily?” Sirius asked him. 

Prongs lifted his drink up to his lips as he turned to look at Lily, and promptly choked on his sip. Marlene cackled from beside her. Lily had no idea what was going on; the only thing she could think of was that all of them had collectively lost their minds at the same time.

“Are you okay?” Lily asked. 

He tried to smile and his drink dribbled out of his mouth and onto her jeans. 

“Fuck, sorry,” he apologised.

Sirius was convulsing with laughter next to her. Lily stood up to find something to wipe her jeans, when Prongs produced a napkin from his back pocket. She stared at it suspiciously before taking it and dabbing at her ankle. 

“I’m James not Prongs, by the way,” he added. 

“Lily,” she said. 

“I know,” he replied, although seemed to instantly regret it and a blush tinged his cheeks.

“Erm- what?” Lily asked, looking around puzzled for an explanation. 

“Nothing,” James-not-Prongs said hurriedly, and pulled away a laughing Sirius to the other side of the room. 

Lily watched them have a hurried conversation, in which two other people joined them and furtive glances were made in her general direction. 

“What was that?” Lily asked Marlene. 

But Marlene was busy talking to someone on the other side of her. Lily got up from the lounge to get herself another drink. She wasn’t sure where anyone else was getting their drinks, so she made her way back into the kitchen and pulled the whiskey out from behind the cereal again. This time, she found a regular sized cup and looked in the fridge for a mixer so it would last a bit longer. When she opened the fridge, all she could see was a block of cheese, some leftover Chinese take away and a bottle of orange juice. She poured a liberal shot of whiskey into the cup she had found and topped it up with the juice. She scrunched up her face at the taste. 

Lily walked out a different door again (how big was this house?) and found herself at the base of a wooden staircase. She couldn’t see anyone else around, but she was curious to see the rest of the house and so she walked up. Immediately to the left of the top of the stairs was a bathroom; she peeked in to find dirty laundry strewn about and quickly moved on. As she walked down the hallway a bedroom, then another. At the end of the hallway was a pair of large French doors that opened onto a balcony. Lily stepped out, despite the frigid air of winter nipping at her. It felt soothing on her alcohol-heated skin. 

Lily’s phone buzzed in her back pocket. She pulled it out and the brightness of the screen blinded her momentarily. When she was able to see again, she saw a message from Marlene. 

_ Marlene: where are you sugar _

Lily typed out her reply clumsily. She didn’t think she was that drunk but in that moment she was glad autocorrect existed. 

_ Lily: i’m upstairs. Some balcony _

Lily put her phone back in her pocket and sat down on the edge of the balcony. Her legs were between the bars and dangled over the edge. She sipped on her drink and looked out from the balcony at the lights all over the city, sighing with content. She was disturbed by footsteps behind her, which she assumed were Marlene.

“Marly it’s  _ so _ nice out here,” Lily called behind her. 

“Glad you think so,” came a voice the definitely  _ wasn’t _ Marlene’s. 

Lily’s head whipped around in surprise, and she found James standing in the doorway behind her, his hand messing up his hair again. His glasses were slightly askew, and his cheeks were flushed pink, though she thought that may be from the alcohol. He sat down beside her and dangled his legs over the edge the same way she had. 

“I thought you were Marlene,” she said dumbly. 

“I gathered,” he said. 

The sat in silence for a minute and Lily sipped on her drink. 

“What did you mean before?” she asked, and then, “When you said you already knew my name?”

“Oh, er, we’re just in the same biochem lab,” James answered her. 

Lily nodded in understanding. It felt like there was more that he wasn’t telling her, but she didn’t feel the urge to press the issue. She stared out at the lights again, transfixed. 

“Are you cold?” James asked, disrupting her thoughts. 

She hadn’t even noticed but she’d started shivering. She nodded. He stood up from the balcony, and Lily was confused but took his hand when he offered it. She followed him back into the house and into one of the bedrooms she had passed on her way out. She looked around the room whilst James dug through the drawers of a large wooden dresser. 

“Is this your room?” Lily asked.

James snorted from where he was still digging through the chest of drawers. He threw a jacket at her but her reflexes were sluggish, and it dropped at her feet. She laughed loudly and freely at herself, and he joined in. She couldn’t help but think that his laugh alone could probably warm her up from the inside. She picked the jacket up from at her feet and put it on. The sleeves were several inches too long and it dwarfed her, but it was soft. 

“Thanks,” she said. 

They walked back out to the balcony together. Lily misjudged the distance between them and almost ended up sitting on his lap. She giggled an apology, nearly spilling her drink as she tried to shuffle over. Lily sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and balanced her cup on top. As James looked out at the lights, she was looking at him. His glasses still sat slightly crooked on his nose, and his lips were full and pink. He was wearing a soccer jersey for Manchester United that looked quite old, because it was slightly faded and tight around his arms. 

James must have sensed his eyes on her, because he turned to her and ask, “What?”

“Manchester United?” 

“Don’t tell me you’re a Liverpool fan?” James said. He was shaking his head, but Lily could see him smiling.

“That’s where I’m from! Plus, my dad would probably disown me,” Lily explained. 

“This is not good. Not good at all,” James joked. 

Lily shoved him playfully, but his reflexes were quicker than hers and he was able to steady himself. The music stopped below them, and Lily looked around in confusion. It dawned on her what was going on, when she heard the countdown chanting from below. 

“10… 9… 8…”

Her knee bumped James’s as she stretched her leg out, and she felt a zap of electricity. 

“7… 6… 5…”

She couldn’t explain why but her heart leapt in her throat. 

“4… 3… 2…”

She saw James fix up his glasses from the corner of her eye. She leant closer towards him in anticipation, and he turned to face her; he looked confused at first, then shocked, and then gleeful. All three expressions washed over his face in less than a second. Lily giggled as she leant even closer.

“1… HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

He met her in the middle, and she was still laughing as their lips met. She was right about his lips; they were full and warm, and tasted like the whiskey she had been drinking. Her hand reached up to cup his chin and also to steady herself. His hand was on her waist when she deepened the kiss, opening her mouth and allowing his tongue to slip in. But her legs were growing numb from the awkward angle they were sitting at, and she had to pull away. His hand lingered on her waist, and hers on his face. 

“Were you drinking my whiskey and orange juice?” he asked. 

Lily burst into laughter, full bellied and body convulsing laughter. This was the best start to any year she had ever had. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @wotcherpotter


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